Community Returns

Dan Harmon is back! Although, based on last night's two-episode premiere, you can't exactly say he's back with a vengeance. However, that's not all bad.  As Abed points out, re-piloting is hard and that is very much what these episodes were.  Not only is Harmon back after taking the 4th season off but, with the departure of Chevy Chase and the impending departure of Donald Glover, there is a significant shift in terms of the cast this season, not to mention having to explain why the whole crew is returning to Greendale for a fifth year (Jeff becomes a teacher --- an obvious solution but one that the show kicks itself for; with Community I've never been sure if I should be forgiving when it falls into Sit-com cliches just because it calls itself out on those cliches --- everyone else re-enrolls, having failed in their lives since graduation). So, Harmon couldn't get too wild just yet; he has to establish the new status quo.  He can't come blasting out the door with another paintball episode.

There are some encouraging signs for the new seasons though: Abed's descent into madness in trying to answer the seemingly simple question, "Nicholas Cage: Bad or Good" is the kind of pop-culture commentary that Dan Harmon was so good at that the season 4 writers just couldn't seem to pull off. Also, there's Jonathan Banks who is, ostensibly, taking Chevy Chase's role in the cast (he is reportedly appearing in 11 of 13 episodes this season).  He could have very easily been used as a one-time gag but Harmon manages to give the character some depth and open up the opportunities for further exploring his relationships with the other characters.

So, while nothing too exciting has happened yet, I am hopeful that the series has bit of life in it yet and, while I'm sure there will be a few clunkers, perhaps we can get a few more genius episodes like, "Paradigms of Human Memory", "Digital Estate Planning", "Contemporary American Poultry", "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons", "Critical Film Studies" or, maybe, even another "Modern Warfare" (that's the paintball one).